Top 100: #67 Unlock! Series

Escape rooms have become quite the trend in the real world lately. We keep meaning to get out and enjoy one (especially since Escape Alaska is in town). But until we find the time, one of my favorite ways to experience something similar is with the Unlock series. Using the assistance of an app to run some of the background and different cards players follow an unique story filled with puzzles and codes.

The Platypus game library has a small section devoted to escape room type games. Currently that section has six different Unlock adventures. Our favorite, especially for new people, is Squeak & Sausage. It is just the right mix of humor, puzzles, hidden numbers, and codes.

While most of the posts in the Top 100 have talked a lot about gameplay, we definitely have to be more careful with these titles as spoilers are a thing. The games can only be played once as after that you will know all of the answers and be able to just blow through the adventure. The games are pretty inexpensive, so if you don’t have the chance to play them for free from our library then you can still have some cheap fun with a group of friends as games all last around an hour.

In general the game is played by putting cards with blue numbers together with red numbers. The sum of those cards will hopefully be a good card in the deck (Some cards are penalties). If you find the right card then it will lead you to other riddles and puzzles. Occasionally you will come across a yellow card and those generally require a code to be entered into the app. The source of the codes will vary widely through the different games from obvious to real brain burners.

With Unlock being our favorite escape room simulator it is the highest one on the Top 100 but if after you have played through them you are looking forward to more (just like we are) then you should give the rest of our Escape Room games a try! We have some named very originally as “Escape Room the game” to another series of games that doesn’t use an app called Deckscape. In the end though we definitely suggest the Unlock series most of all since it is the one we placed on as the #67 on our Top 100.

Top 100: #68 Watson & Holmes

Deduction games are one of my favorite style of games - probably because there was lots of puzzle solving when I was a lad. When you mix deduction with the theme of one of the best known crime solvers - Sherlock Holmes--you are quickly on the road to being one of my favorite games. Watson & Holmes is one of the more unique games with that theming because it is a competitive instead of cooperative game.

There are multiple cases (with limited to no replayability) where all of different people and places you can investigate are placed on the table. On each turn a location can only be visited by a single investigator so there is a small bidding element if two players want to go to the same location. It doesn’t happen until later in the game when it seems one part of the case that you need to know is obviously at a specific location.

None of the locations ever have the exact answer to the crime in question, you also need to be able to piece together the different elements of the crime similar to a logic puzzle. Some locations are also difficult to enter being cordoned off by the police only and with special resources are you going to be able to get into those - lots of the time though they have important information worth the cost.

Because this Sherlock themed deduction game is competitive instead of cooperative, not only is the goal to solve the case but also to be the one to solve it first. This race to the truth, while fun, takes out a small piece of the enjoyment Watson and Holmes provides. If there was perhaps a cooperative deduction game based in the Sherlock Holmes setting it might be higher up on this list than #68. *wink* But until we get there, if you like the setting and solving some crimes (especially if you would rather compete) then give Watson and Holmes a spin.

Top 100: #69 The Grizzled

More cooperative games! This one is a little bit darker - definitely in its theme at the very least. Themed around the horrors of trench warfare during World War I, The Grizzled is a challenging game to win as players try to play the correct cards while overcoming burdens and trying to survive the war.

At the start of the round the players will decide how many cards to deal out to each person. The goal of the game is to get through the whole deck, but any of the cards that remain in players hands at the end of the round punish the players.  Players always want to find the happy middle between the goals of getting all the cards in the deck played and all of the cards rid of all the cards in your hands.

The general rule is you can never have three of the same threat in play or that mission fails.  On your turn you decide to either play a card or retreat. There are two types of cards - ones that show one or more threats and some that are negative effects imposed on yourself. You might notice that neither of those sound like happy cards, which is probably a part of the message of the game. There is only a single card in the entire deck that is helpful to the players. The rest of the cards the players just have to survive through.

While we do try to take the atmosphere somewhat seriously there is always some amusement at some of the conditions that people get. Especially when I am teaching players so we are talking strategy and i get the negative card the makes it so i can no longer communicate. At the end of the round there is a chance to heal negative conditions but surprisingly there are some that are even worse than not being able to communicate.

The Grizzled is a tough game, but fairly easy to understand and quick to play. It is a lot about understanding the weaknesses that the players inherit and trying to understand what cards people have in their hands. Even when they can communicate players can never directly tell people what they have in their hands. That lack of knowledge is what makes Grizzled both a difficult game and also lots of fun.

Top 100: #70 Mechs Vs. Minions

When we first heard that Riot, the company that made League of Legends, was creating a board game, I was a little bit skeptical. Early photos showed the insane production for a relatively inexpensive price so we decided to give it a try. The game, Mechs vs Minions, is a great programmed movement game where you are working cooperatively to take out the minions on the board or at least prevent them from taking you out!

Programmed movement is generally a love it or hate it mechanic in board gaming as it is generally only enjoyable when everyone is around the same skill level. One of the ways this game helped alleviate those problems is making the game cooperative. Other players can still wind up making your orders not work correctly but they won’t be doing it intentionally which could be frustrating in some of the other games.

Each round the players will draft a number of cards to add to their mechs programming. Using the abilities that you program into your mech it will spread more and more destruction - hopefully on the bad guys. There are lots of different abilities that are available, but cards can also power up abilities that are in the same family as skills you already had.

Taking damage while unfortunate, also adds some amusement to the game as it can knock down some of your programming and make you do some weird actions that you hadn’t planned on. Later on you will have the ability to repair damage which you will need to do if you want to keep the minions under control. Each mission is always a little different introducing new game modes and possibly new bad guys to contend with.

We couldn’t have been happier to be wrong about Riot games making the transition from video games to board games because Mechs Vs. Minions was a blast to play. It was also very obviously crafted by people who love the hobby with great miniatures, custom inserts, and great game play. We don’t know if they are going to ever make a follow up board game but until they do make sure to give Mechs Vs Minions, our number 70, a try!

Top 100: #71 Goa

There are lots of pure auction games that distill gameplay to just a single element. Goa is not one of those games. At its heart it is definitely an auction game since so much rests on accurately pricing the tiles that become available for purchase. But there is so much more than that, as there is an entire action phase where you are building up your trading empire.

There are two ages in the game and at the beginning of one, the board is filled with 25 tiles that will be some of the ones auctioned off to the players. How the group decides which ones are up for auction is an interesting aspect to the game.  The start player places the start player flag somewhere around the edge of board. The player following them will select one of the tiles adjacent to the flag to have the second thing up for auction. This goes around until 5 things are up for auction for that round. What you choose has lots of variables. You might be something up for bid because you want to buy it. However, if you selected the tile for bid you get the auction price if someone else buys it. So you might put it up for auction knowing someone else really wants it.

After all of the auctions are resolved, it moves into the action phase where the players use their rather limited number of actions to build up their empire. The different skills on your player board are building ships, harvesting spices, taxing, going on expeditions, or founding colonies. When you start the game all of those skills are fairly inefficient which is why the other action you can do is spend some of your resources to increase the power of your actions. That way you get more bang for your buck on future actions.

After eight rounds the player with the most points wins the game. But since it has lots of depth there are a great many ways to get points. You get points for founding colonies, improving your empire - both specializing and overall, from expeditions, and tiles that just give you points outright. While it can be overwhelming to have so many different ways to get points, I always try to look at the from the bright side of adding lots of replayability as you can try different strategies each time you play.

In the end Goa is a great auction game that added lots of euro game elements to make the auction choices more difficult and thoughtful. It is definitely not a game I would suggest to someone new to board games, or who doesn’t like auction games because that is an important part of the game. However, if auction games are something you enjoy as well as games that take a lot of thought and strategy, you should definitely give number 71 our list a try.

Top 100: #72 Taluva

We are always a little biased to a game with lots of 3d pieces and and great table presence. That doesn’t mean that Taluva isn’t a fun game without those component, but they definitely add some great flavor to the game. The point of Taluva is to have the most temples built at the end of the game, but someone might claim victory early if they can get a large number of their structures built.

Each time you start your turn you will add a volcano tile expanding the island of Taluva. You can either add more surface area or go upwards adding levels to the island. Towers can only be built on higher levels so those will be a necessity if you are aiming to win the game by building towers up!

After you place your tile you can take a single construction action. You can place a single hut on any open level one space anywhere on the board. You definitely need to have lots of different settlements as each one can only have a single tower and temple. The other thing you can do with huts is pick one terrain type and one spot you control on the board and fan out a hut on each of the adjacent tiles of the terrain type you selected.

Instead of placing huts you can build a tower or a temple in a settlement if they don’t have one already. Each of these more advanced buildings has some requirements though. To build a temple there has to be at least three huts in a settlement. For a tower it just need to be built on level three and next to one of your settlements. While towers are hard to build, they are the most important ones to get built.

Taluva plays really quickly, only lasting 30 - 45 minutes for each game. I love building up the island and all of my settlements. There is plenty of ability to screw with opponents as you can crush some of their huts by placing land on top of them or just by building where they want to build before they do. While it takes a few turns to real grasp the strategy of the game it is quick enough that once you give it a try you will likely be up to playing again right away to win the game!

Top 100: #73 Splendor

Number 73 on our list, Splendor, is one of the games people called newest classics. The gameplay is simple, but allows for a lot of different choices to be made in an effort to have the highest score at the end of the round that triggers the end game. Playing as jewelers players collect gems both temporary and permanently to build an engine to get points the most efficiently.

On your turn you only have four options for your actions. You can grab three gem chips of all different colors, collect two of the same color, reserve a card taking a wild chip in the process, or purchase a card on the table or in your personal reserve. A lot of your turns, especially early in the game, will be picking up chips. They are very limited so sometimes you will take chips because you need them and other times to stop your opponents from getting them. There is a 10 gem limit though to stop players from hoarding too many gems.

Once you have the gems to afford some of the cards in play you can purchase cards and add them to your tableau while returning the gem chips to the supply. All of the gem cards provide a gem permanently to your supply. Some of the cards even have points as well to add to your score at the end of the game.

As a game of Splendor continues you might be able to get a big discount on buying a card using the permanent gems that you have - or possibly even get a card or two for free. I normally fall for the temptation to get cards for free which is why i lose most games as players are in a race to get to the point threshold. So having a great engine isn’t going to win you the game if you don’t have the points to go with it. My one saving grace is there are nobles that give you points based on if you meet their requirements from your permanent gems.

One of the easier games for me to teach, while still having a lot of depth and player interaction, Splendor is a great game. I’ve heard that in most recent printings the components are cheaply made, but components were never what made the game quality anyways. (Even if they were complimented quite often). Everyone should give Splendor a try at one of our events especially, if you are just getting into board gaming as it is a great gateway.

Top 100: #74 Stockpile

Our last game on the list was a lighthearted take on making a television station. Stockpile is a lighthearted game about insider trading. Obviously not as humorous as The Networks, but Stockpile is a great game of playing the markets where you have a lot of information but don’t know everything. Depending on the player count the game goes for a set number of rounds while you try to build your wealth and control over companies.

At the start of the round each player is handed some insider information - they get to know one company and how its stock will act at the end of the round. You will definitely want to keep that information secret from your opponents. If you know the stock is going up you might try to buy more of it later. If the opposite is true you might try to mislead your opponents into overspending for that stock.

Next the players seed some piles of cards from the deck and are also dealt two cards secretly. Going around the table each player plays one of their two cards. One card is placed face down and the other is placed face up. These piles will be bidded on during the next phase. So you might hide a negative card to try to sneak it to another player or hide a stock for a valuable company so the other players don’t value the stack as highly! How you decide to play your cards face up or down adds lots of strategy to this phase.

Once the bidding phase is over every player will have won a stack of cards. Sometimes cards will increase the price of the stack with penalty cards, some will simply be stocks in the certain companies, and then some of them are action cards. This is the time that each player has a chance to play the action cards they have. The last part of the round is when the insider information take effect moving stocks up or down - possibly making them so valuable the stocks split or becomes so worthless that all stocks in that company are discarded due to bankruptcy.

Stockpile is tons of fun with the theme coming through as people have insider information and the bidding mechanic works really well with the mix of public and private information. The theme is definitely not that light hearted but when it works so well with the games mechanics it makes an already great game even better. The sleakness and fun of Stockpile makes it really deserve its spot on the top 100.

Top 100: #75 The Networks

Next on our list is a game from Gil Hova where you are trying to build your television station from basic cable to one of the most watched stations in the world! That is the goal of The Networks which is a fun ride with good choices to make and great parody cards that will give you a laugh throughout play time. The game is played over 5 rounds, known as seasons, for obvious reasons.

Game play is fairly simple as you take one of just a few actions on your turn and you go round and round the board until everyone passes for the round. I also like that everything is known at the beginning of the round. So when you take a show card it is not replaced with a new one from the draw pile like in other games. Once the round is set up, you know exactly what will be available, and the question is can you get what you want before other players nab it.

The different actions you can take all revolve around building you station. Of course you can buy show concepts and the stars to cast them. All of those cards are obviously referencing either a show a lot of people know, like “31 Paper” or a network star dressed in a wolf cloak. But of course you have to pay the bills so you can get the support of network executives and putting advertisements on your shows. Not only is there a bit of a race to get all of those different resources, but the earlier you pass the higher your budget for next year. So once you’ve gotten the things you wanted it's time to get out of the round!

Similar to real life between each season your shows will start to lose viewers (which are the points in the game) so you might have to cancel a show before it reaches its true finale because you can only have one show per time slot. After five seasons the channel that had recruited the most viewers over its lifespan is the winner.

There have been some other games that have tried to emulate the creation of a television station from cable access to a big budget channel. Networks is the best of that lot mostly because of its simplicity. It doesn’t take the need to simulate the real world too far adding unnecessary complexity. The parody always helps me enjoy this game, but as time passes fewer and fewer people will get some of the references. So while the parody component might have gotten the game a little bit higher on my list, even without it, Networks would be in the top 100 because it is a great game.

Top 100: #76 Mexica

Kramer and Kiesling strike again! Earlier in the list we had one of their games - Tikal. Which was part of a trilogy of games called the Mask Trilogy. The games in that trilogy are Tikal, Java, and our number 76 - Mexica. Players will be creating districts and building temples to build up what will become the city of Tenochtitlan.

Similar to their other games on each turn a player will get a certain number of action points, in this case six, to do what they will with them. Some of the actions that are available are to play river tiles on the island to develop different districts. If you can manage to create a district matching one of the size requirements than you put a token into play and score points immediately. In the future the player with the most influence in a district will score some of the other numbers on that chip you just put in play.

Once the districts are completed you can build temples in those regions to increase your influence in them. In the current version of the game these are beautifully crafted step pyramids that really stand out on the board. We can’t deny that might be part of the reason it got so high up on the list. Great games with great production quality always get a little bit higher marks.

Movement around the board is also quite fun as well. You can always do the somewhat mundane stepping onto a space next to you or crossing a bridge (building one of those is also an action). However, you can also go from a bridge to another bridge following the bodies of water. And since the board is an island sometimes that means you can go from a bridge to a bridge on the other side of the map making it somewhat easier to get around the board. But watch out because your opponents can also get you trapped between a rock and a temple based on where you go. And then you will have to spend a lot of action points on your turn to free yourself!

We really enjoy the action point game play that Kramer and Kiesling use in Mexica and other titles and this is one of the better ones. The theming is great and comes through with the production quality. The only thing I would warn people about is the game can become quite cutthroat is you compete for the better scoring districts. So if you are looking for a light hearted game you might want to try one of the other games on the list. But sometimes we really want to get competitive and a little mean - then it might be time to break out Mexica!